It was almost noon after coming out of the coin minting prison. Guo Zi played with the few iron coins in his hand and felt that it was magical. Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty, mysticism has gradually begun to be excluded from mainstream ideas, but the influence over the past thousand years has been deeply rooted. Speaking of secret medicines, it can arouse people's interest in a moment.

After entering the Sansi Yamen, Xu Ping asked Guo Zi: "Have you ever visited the provincial governor before coming to my place?"

"That's not, because I was under the deputy envoy and had known each other for many years, so I came to the Salt and Iron Department directly."

Xu Ping heard that Guo Zi came directly here, so he stopped and said, "This is inappropriate. Otherwise, I will take you to see the provincial master. He is not a difficult person."

According to the rules, when officials come to take up their new position, they naturally have to pay their respects to the chief of the department first, and then meet in turn. However, Guo Zi and Xu Ping have known each other for many years, and it is understandable that they skip Kou and do not seem too abrupt.

So the two of them did not go back to the Salt and Iron Department first, but turned to Kou's chief official hall.

Xu Ping's subordinates were in charge of the military case, and the soldiers in the three departments were under his control, and the establishment of cases was in charge of the welfare of officials and officials from all over the three departments. Along the way, whether it was the soldiers guarding the gate or the public officials who were coming on the road, they stood respectfully on the side of the road when they saw Xu Ping coming over, saluting and greeting him.

In fact, the officials in all prefectures and counties across the country, including some of the Xiangjun engaged in economic services, are under the jurisdiction of the military case. The Sansi was the yamen with the largest number of troops under the rule of the Song Dynasty, except for the Privy Council and the Sanya, which also showed the special status of the Sansi.

When he arrived outside Kou Yu's chief's hall, the general guarding the gate made a loud report.

Kou Ye said loudly: "Deputy Envoy Xu is here just right. I'm about to call you by someone. Come in quickly!"

Xu Ping took Guo Zi into the Chief Officer's Hall and saw that in addition to Kou, there was a middle-aged man sitting in the lower head.

Kou Yan pointed to the middle-aged man and said to Xu Ping: "This is Li Hong, the deputy envoy of Duzhi. He has just returned from the Khitan envoy. You two are the deputy envoys of the Third Division, but you have never met each other. Today we happened to meet you."

Li Hong was older, and although he was under Xu Ping, Xu Ping still came up to greet him first.

Li Hong hurriedly stood up from his seat and supported Xu Ping and said, "Yunxing's young hero, the battle of Yongzhou has made a name for the world. I have heard a lot in the Khitan. Even the Khitan monarchs and ministers praised each other and were deeply afraid. How can you afford to give your tribute?"

Kou said: "A yamen is an official, and you don't need to be polite. You will have a long time to work together in the future."

Li Hong was the nephew of Li Changling, the chief political officer of Emperor Zhenzong of Taizong. His father served as the founding and extermination of Guangnan East Road, and his cousins ​​were respectively married to Fan Zhongyan and Zheng Jian, who were from a family of officials. He also held important positions. He had been sentenced to the opening and demolition department in the court, and also served as a judge of the salt and iron. He also served as a censor for a long time. He had a rich experience in the local area from a county magistrate, a supervisor to a transshipment envoy.

Generally speaking, officials with this kind of experience are capable and have a slightly weaker ability. Basically, they follow the steps in the court office, and only serve as the governor of the local government, and do not have much contact with specific affairs.

After only meeting with Li Hong, Xu Ping introduced Guo Zi. Guo Zi was born in the Han family and his career was not going well. He didn't know many people in the officialdom. Kou and Li Hong were already very awesome after hearing his name and had no impression at all. Kou Yu agreed to recommend him to serve as the judge of Yantik, which was entirely due to Xu Ping's face and knew nothing about Guo Zi's ability.

Seeing that the two of them were cold in their attitude, Xu Ping sighed secretly. The officialdom is so realistic. If he doesn’t have a good background, he has to become a father-in-law of a high-ranking family early. He has to make friends with him even more. A skilled official like Guo Zi, not to mention that it is this era, it will not be popular in any era. He can only try his luck in the officialdom.

After taking the iron coins from Guo Zi, Xu Ping gave them to Kou and said, "Judge Guo has taken office and has done my best. A few days ago, I have always wanted to cast practical iron coins, and I have a few samples. In the future, I will be able to improve the casting method."

Kou took the iron coin, weighed it in his hand, and asked with confusion: "Is this iron coin?"

Seeing Xu Ping signaling, Guo Zi hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Report to the provincial master, this is indeed an iron coin. Deputy Xu used secret medicine outside, and the money turned into black, which looked conspicuous, anti-rust and corrosion-proof, and durable."

Kou asked Xu Ping: "What secret medicine?"

Xu Ping said: "But I can't say clearly. In a word, it means that after the money is prepared, it is placed in the bath solution of the secret medicine several times, and then it becomes like this. This black is made of money and cannot be ground off at will."

Kou Yu handed over two in Li Fu's hand. The two of them held the iron coins in their hands together and rubbed each other because they were just imitating the coin collision and did not use any force. After a few strokes, they picked it up and looked at it, but it did not change.

Li Hong asked: "Previous envoy Xu, how can this money prevent rust and corrosion?"

Guo Zi replied: "The black layer outside is not afraid of rust. I specially collected these samples of money soaked in water and buried in wet soil for two or three months, but it still has not changed color."

Li Hong nodded, played with the iron coins in his hand for a while, looked at Kou Yu, and asked Xu Ping: "Deputy Envoy Xu, is there any other person who knows the secret medicine used for this money besides you?"

Xu Ping shook his head: "No, this secret medicine is hard to come by, and there shouldn't be a second person in the world knows."

Kou Yu slapped the table: "That's good. The harder the secret medicine, the better! With this secret method, this kind of iron coins cannot be cast by the people. It is enough to spread the world and the court will make great profits!"

Xu Ping was stunned. Why wasn't it right when he heard this? Asked Kou, "What the hell is meant to use this kind of iron coins as copper coins? Iron coins are iron coins after all--"

"So what?" Kou Yan waved his hand, "As long as the people cannot steal casting, what are you afraid of! The court said it could be used as copper coins, which one dares to say no? Not to mention using it as copper coins, even if one is used as ten, it is normal!"

The answer was beyond Xu Ping's expectations and hurriedly said: "In this way, what's the difference between Xu Shen using iron and copper to cast coins? It's not a long-term solution to be cheap!"

"The difference? The difference between Xu Shen is very simple. He can't cast it out. Deputy Xu, you cast it out. This is the difference!"

After Kou Yu finished speaking, he saw Xu Ping looking stupid and said in a low voice: "Why is Xu Shen's method of minting coins valued by the court? To put it bluntly, it is nothing more than that the court now lacks copper to cast coins. With this secret method, it can replace the copper used for minting coins. This is exactly what the court needs urgently. Why, Deputy Envoy Xu, you are studying this method, isn't it just for minting coins?"

"It's good to cast coins, but all I think is cast iron coins, five coins are used as copper coins to facilitate private trade. For the sake of livelihood, small farmers in the country may take a few eggs, pick a basket of fruit from the tree and go to the market to sell them, and exchange them for some firewood, rice, oil and salt. It's inconvenient to use copper coins. With iron coins, the business can be done."

After hearing Xu Ping's words, Li Hong smiled: "Deputy Envoy Xu is a real person and has never known to use fraud in his life. But if you think about it, if you can use one piece as ten copper coins, how can you convince the ministers in the court to use five pieces as one copper coins!"
Chapter completed!